The Midnight Hour

The dead are raised on Halloween night in a New England hamlet

In a Massachusetts town, five high school kids inadvertently unleash witches, zombies, vampires and werewolves after reciting a curse from a paper scroll on Halloween.

Originally released to TV, "The Midnight Hour" (1985) came out 23 months after Michael Jackson’s hit “Thriller” video and was obviously inspired by it. You get other items relevant to the 80s, like Eric Carr’s The Fox makeup when the protagonist dresses up for the Halloween party.

If you’re in the mood for a colorful Halloween flick that has spooky elements but isn’t very scary, has little gore and zero nudity, it fills the bill. Comparable flicks in tone include "Monster Night" (2006), "Saturday the 14th" (1981), “Elvira: Mistress of the Dark” (1988) and “Monster Island” (2004).

The requirements of a movie like this are obvious: A good assortment of youthful protagonists, from kids to late-teens (e.g. Lee Montgomery, LeVar Burton and Shari Belafonte); an equally good cast of adults (e.g. Dick Van Patten and Kevin McCarthy); a quasi-horror ambiance; a fun, silly spirit; corny, but amusing humor; a simple story with a sense of adventure; an assortment of good-lookin' women, young and older (e.g. Jonna Lee, Dedee Pfeiffer and Cindy Morgan); an energetic and rockin' soundtrack; and a runtime that doesn't overstay its welcome.

It helps that some quality human interest is thrown in with the sympathetic character of Sandy (the winsome Jonna Lee).

The movie runs 1 hour, 34 minutes, and was shot at Universal Studios, Universal City, California, including the Courthouse Square backlot used in flicks like “Back to the Future” (1985) and “Back to the Future Part II” (1989).

GRADE: B-/B